esl will be busy20 Mar 2020 10:27
Stockpiling began to creep up a few weeks ago but demand for hand wash, sanitiser and toilet roll hit feverpitch last week when the UK began to mimic behavour shown on social media by Australian shoppers. Since then, we’ve seen other stockpiling classics like canned goods and UHT milk disappear from shelves and, due to supply issues in Italy, pasta has also taken a hit. All retailers have implemented measures to maintain stock levels, but the situation in-store continues to fluctuate. Here’s what it looks like at the moment. With the maximum availability of these items at just over the halfway point, it’s not a pretty picture for stock levels at the moment.
The retailers are managing to keep 52% availability of frozen food and just under 40% of canned goods. Bleach and rice are hovering below 30% and then there’s a steep drop as UHT milk, paracetamol and pasta stock dwindles. Despite strong supplies, at 4.3% availability, all retailers are struggling to keep toilet roll on shelves. Hand sanitiser at 3.3% is the worst hit by panic buying, although with many distillers now lending a hand with production, the national shortage is set to improve. With 24.3% availability, Sainsbury’s currently has better stocks of the panic bought products (above) than the other retailers involved in this test. Out of the big four, Morrisons had the lowest availablity of 16.9%, while Lidl is shortly behind at 16.6%. Sainsbury’s has the best overall availability of stockpiled items, aided by strong stocks of canned, frozen food. It is outperforming rivals on availability of pasta by 3.2%. However, the retailer is struggling in other areas including hand sanitiser and UHT milk, where it’s behind Aldi and Tesco.
At 5.1% availability, Tesco has the best availability of hand sanitiser - the product most-depleted by panic buying. Aldi has the strongest supply of toilet roll on shelves (6.8%) the second-hardest hit product on our list.
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